There's a certain amount of gall, an absolute belief in one's self and maybe even a bit of conceit, or maybe just a certain amount of stupidity to laugh at Belladonna Marimoore. She may threaten with words, facial expressions, and body language more than actually following through, but that's mainly because she hardly ever has to follow through. When the need arises, she doesn't hold back. So people hardly ever dared challenge her and never laughed... well, almost never. It had happened to her three times in her life.

The first time it was her mother who laughed. Bella was almost seven when she told her mother how she wanted to become an artist when she grew up. At first, Bella truly believed that the laughter was happy and supportive, the light kind of laughter an adult releases when a child says something cute and innocent but the adult wants to preserve that innocence and so follows up the laugh with a soft smile and supportive words. It wasn't until the final "ha", a loud and aggressive sound that was accompanied by a look of pure hatred, that Bella realized the truth: there was nothing kind about her mother's laugh. Immediately after she finished laughing, Bella's mother informed her that even if she managed to find a way to make money with her art, she'd still be nothing more than the villain she was deep down inside. She'd screw up like she always did and ruin any chance she had at having the "normal" life she seemed to want so badly. Seven-year-old Bella ran away crying, the last time she allowed herself to cry until recently.

The second time anyone ever laughed at her was when she was 11. Sydney McBeal was the first person Bella met when she entered middle school. Sydney was the newly appointed queen of the school since the previous one went on to high school. Having heard about Belladonna Marimoore, this odd girl who didn't follow the rules and challenged authority for no reason in particular, Sydney decided the first thing that needed to be done was to find this girl and show her how middle school was going to go for at least one year of her life. Sydney slammed Bella's locker door closed, very nearly smashing Bella's fingers in the process and was immediately met with a fierce glare, one which she laughed so heartily at that it began to spread through the hall. Bella, not one who liked this type of negative attention, met Sydney's laughter with a quick and painful twisting of the arm. The laughter quickly stopped, but Bella felt the need to cement the idea that Sydney was never to cross her again, so she snapped that arm and was suspended for two weeks on the first day of school.

The third time, the laughter came from the very core of the headmaster of Gallimore School of Entropy. The headmaster laughed nonstop as Bella crossed her arms and sent a look her way that would have killed her on the spot if Bella hadn't learned to control her powers.

The headmaster wiped a tear from her eye as her laughter calmed down, only to build back up to another several minute long hearty laugh once she saw the look on Bella's face.

She was serious! She truly wanted to challenge the headmaster to a Malent Talent Competition. Did she realize that this consisted of three rounds of fighting? One of which was with the headmaster herself. The idea that Bella thought at her level, a level in which she could barely handle Mitch, could beat the headmaster wasn't just comical, it was absolutely hilarious!

"So... so you want to..." The headmaster cleared her throat, trying to clear out the remainder of her laughter. "So you want to challenge me to a... Malent Talent Competition?" She'd almost begun laughing again, but managed to control herself.

"Yes," Bella responded curtly.

The headmaster began laughing all over again, unable to control herself as she thought again about how little chance Bella had at winning. Sure, it was a predictable move for someone who didn't want to complete a task given to them by the headmaster, but it was a predictable move for someone who had a chance. The headmaster couldn't help but think about how Bella had yet to even realize her full power, let alone master it.

"You should really rethink," the headmaster sighed after she'd finished laughing for the third time.

"Don't underestimate me," Bella said through her teeth. "You can accept, or you can forfeit before the fight has even started."

"You sound a little too confident in your powers."

"The choice is yours, headmaster, but if you refuse, there is no doubt that I will spread word of your cowardice." Bella slammed her hands on the desk that sat between them, looking the headmaster eye. "I wonder what your students and faculty would think of you then."

The headmaster shook her head. "Stubborn youth. Fine, I'll accept your challenge. Tomorrow morning at 1pm."

"1pm?"

"I don't wake up early on days I need not do so. But, Bella, remember that I tried to give you a way out. By the end of tomorrow, you'll be even more in my control than you already are."

Bella let a little smirk fall onto her lips as she turned and walked toward the door. She stopped when her hand touched the handle, not having wanted to say what was on her mind until she was this far for fear that if she did she would not have the last word as she wished. "I'm under my control and my control only," she said before stepping out of the office.

Bella's confident and unshaken strut through the school was nothing less than fake. She was shaken to the core, afraid for herself in the fights that she would face in less than 24 hours, afraid for Jade if she lost for there would be no escaping death for her, and afraid for herself once more because if she failed, her mother would surely kill her before the headmaster ever had the chance.

Hades stood just one block east of the gate, in the very direction that he knew Bella would go in. Most would probably think that she'd head home or to the training grounds on campus, but Hades knew better, which was why he waited by the bus stop that would bring them to her favorite hiking grounds.

"Of course you'd be here," Bella sighed when she saw him, an obvious scowl accompanying her words, but Hades saw the smile in her eyes.

"It went well, I assume?" he responded.

Bella's frown deepened, this time reaching her eyes. "The headmaster laughed at me... a nice, long, unforgiving laugh at my expense."

"But she accepted."

"Not until I threatened her reputation."

The bus pulled up in front of them and opened its doors. Bella sighed and took a step forward only to be held back by Hades who proceeded to wave the driver on. The doors closed and the bus went on without them on board.

"What the heck, Hades?" Bella bit at him as she pulled her arm from his.

"You know my power and how to fight against it, but I'm going to be honest, you have very, very, little skill in attack strategy. Don't get me wrong, you're great at surviving, but you need to do more than survive to win this competition."

"So...?"

"So I'm going to help you figure out how to fight your other two opponents. But, to do that you need to know and experience their power, even if not what it's like to fight them specifically."

"Meaning...?"

"Meaning I have a friend who has the same power as the headmaster."

"Really?"

Hades weighed her question in his mind before responding. "Well... no two people have the exact same power, but their powers are similar enough that it'll work if you experience it by fighting her."

"The fight is tomorrow."

Hades held up his phone with a small smile. "Yeah, I already got the message from the headmaster. It's me, Professor Allistair, and the headmaster. I already contacted my friend which is why we are leaving in about... ten seconds."

Bella lifted an eyebrow curiously as she watched Hades count down the seconds until they left. Her lips began to tilt upwards at his weirdness, but she decided to let him get to zero before calling him out on it.

When he reached zero, Bella opened her mouth to say something, only to close it upon the sudden arrival of a short, dark-haired man who seemed to appear out of nowhere. "This her?" he asked in a way that made her wonder whether that was a statement, question, exclamation, or what. His facial expression certainly didn't give it away.

"This is her," Hades responded. The man grabbed both Hades and Bella's hand, which Bella immediately disagreed with, but before she could say a word their surroundings had changed and she was met with a sudden feeling of nausea.

Bella tried to find somewhere to go to throw up, but could barely see straight. She felt something being pushed into her hands just as she released her lunch. She felt so bad she didn't even mourn the loss of that fried ravioli and red velvet cake.

She was acutely aware of someone rubbing her back, but was unable to control any of her other senses for several more seconds and, when she could, the first thing she felt was anger.

"What the-"

"Before you yell," Hades interrupted, "I should warn you that unstable emotions soon after teleportation can prolong the aftereffects."

Bella took a deep breath because the only feeling stronger than wanting to punch Hades for not even warning her ahead of time was the feeling to get rid of the dizziness, nausea, and weakness. She allowed herself to be led to a chair and didn't put up a fight when she was told to sit down. It took about two minutes to feel physically normal once again and another three before her mind was no longer fuzzy.

"OK," Bella breathed, "so why did you just drag me through hell?"

"Well, we needed to get to Japan and I don't think there's any way of getting to and from a country halfway across the world in less than 24 hours other than teleportation. And, fair warning this time, we're going to have to do that again."

"You could've warned me the first time," she grouched.

"You'd have never agreed if I told you everything," Hades countered with a shrug. "And besides, the feeling wouldn't have been any better if you'd known. I promise."

"I still hate you for it and I can and will hold a grudge until I can repay you."

"Fair enough, but for now, I have two friends to introduce you to." Hades stood up and then put his hand out to help Bella up as well. She took it, though a bit begrudgingly, and followed him out of the room.

They walked through what she soon figured out was a house. She gathered that they'd originally been in a bedroom and made note of each room they passed by. Bathroom. Bedroom. Bedroom. They went downstairs and walked past a sitting room and another bathroom before stopping in the kitchen.

"Kaiya," Hades said as he entered the room, "this is Bella. Bella, this is my friend Kaiya."

Kaiya turned around and smiled so brightly Bella swore it could blind everyone on the block if they didn't wear sunglasses. "Nice to meet you!" she said as she ran up and hugged Bella without a second thought.

"Let go," Bella growled.

"Not a hugger?" Kaiya asked as she took a step back, her smile not wavering even a little. She then turned to Hades and threw her arms around him in a bone-breaking hug. "Hades! It's been forever!"

"Sorry," he laughed as he detached her from his body.

She hit him and attempted (and failed) at scowling. "You promised you'd be here for my 17th birthday!"

"Sorry," he repeated. "I'll be there for 18."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Kaiya scolded.

"I will, I swear," he laughed. "Where are your parents anyway? And your brother?"

"As if you'd be here if they were here," she said as she waved off his question. Her facial expression was the closest thing to a frown Bella thought Kaiya could pull off. "You know they don't like you."

"Yeah..." Hades looked a little sheepish and Bella had to wonder what was going on. Why'd Kaiya's parents hate him so much?

"Yeah... I'm still here," Bella said, interrupting them.

"I know," Kaiya said with a smile. "Come on. If we're going to do this without destroying anything, we should go to the insulation room."

"The what?" Bella whispered to Hades as Kaiya walked off.

"Insulation room," Hades whispered back. "Her younger brother can control weather. They built this house specifically with that room because it could withstand almost anything."

Bella nodded. "It was for when he couldn't control it?"

"Yeah. He practically lived there for a while."

"Well come on guys, hurry up!" Kaiya said, motioning for them to enter the door she'd opened to a sterile-looking room. "Let's get started."